This summer, Batman: Year One, the best Batman comic, gets even better

For the comic connoisseur: there is only one Batman comic coming out this summer: the Batman: Year One Artist’s Edition.

For almost 40 years Year one has been the definitive origin story for Batman and has served as a dirty, grounded foundation for the likes of Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, Zack Snyder, and Matt Reeves, not to mention the creators of the Arkham games. Gotham the TV series, and, thanks Batman: The Animated Seriesthe entire DC animated universe of the ’90s and ’00s.

And that of IDW Artist’s editionproduced in collaboration with DC Comics and Penguin Random House, promises to shed light on the making of the most influential Batman comic ever drawn by reproducing David Mazzucchelli’s original page art in its original 14-by-21-inch format.

You’ve almost certainly heard of it Year one‘s writer, comic book titan Frank Miller, creator of Shame city, 300And the dark Knight returns. Mazzucchelli, despite co-authoring the first stop in the modern Batman canon, is less of a household name – though you may be familiar with his stylistically inventive, Eisner-winning 2009 graphic novel Asterios polyp.

Miller was (and still is) best known for drawing his own stories when it came time to convert Year one in production, but will come out again the dark Knight returnshe was apparently (fairly) burned out on writing And draw another novel-length story. Tapping the equally emerging Mazzucchelli, who had worked with Miller Daredevilis part of what is made Year one a triumph that has not been repeated since.

That’s a testament to Mazzucchelli’s talent, but also to his career choices. Year one was almost his last work in superhero comics, with his path soon after diverging so widely into independent comics and academia that a friend of mine who was in Professor Mazzucchelli’s class at the School of Visual Arts flatly refused to believe that we could have had about the same guy. The superhero world is extremely lucky to have had him.

Mazzucchelli’s skill is immediately visible in the match Year One Artist Edition pages IDW has shared so far, including the exclusive preview above. Mazzucchelli shared Miller’s early talent for composition, character design, silhouette, deceptively casual line work and striking imagery, making them great partners. But while Miller’s artistic hallmarks lie in his stylization, Mazzucchelli’s Year one work focused on realism.

Mazzucchelli drew his Bruce Wayne after Gregory Peck, and his Selina Kyle has the unmistakable likeness of Grace Jones. His Gotham is torn from the images of New Hollywood Crime Cinema, made up of streaks of light and dirt and wrinkles on walls and faces and clothes. And it lent the weight of that realism to dozens of Batman stories that followed.

IDW’s pages (featuring the lettering work of the legendary Todd Klein) also preserve the parts of the comics process hidden in the final art, such as visible ink strokes, pasted-in date captions, easel tape and non-photo blue pencil. The numbering on these pages may even indicate this Batman: Year One‘s earliest form – not as issues 404-407 of the comic series Batmanbut like the single, contiguous graphic novel that Miller originally pitched.

Batman: Year One Artist’s Edition by David Mazzucchelli contains Mazzucchelli’s layouts for the whole Batman: Year One in their original size (mostly), for a whopping 144 pages, 14.5 by 21 inch hardcover, which goes a long way toward explaining the $150 price tag. There’s also a new introduction to the book from Mazzucchelli himself, and the whole look of the thing was designed by Chip Kidd.

If you need a gift for a Batman fan this year, you could do a lot worse than the Batman: Year One Artist’s Edition – that is, if they don’t get it for themselves in the meantime. View three more original Mazzucchelli pages, the cover of Batman #407, and promotional art below:

Batman: Year One Artist’s Edition by David Mazzucchelli hits shelves on August 13.